(9 April 2008 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Broadcasters will soon have to offer to the direct-to-home (DTH) service providers their channels at a price which is at least 50 per cent less than what they give to cable networks in non-Cas (conditional access system) areas.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has warned that it would step in to regulate the tariff if broadcasters do not comply with the pricing that would in the regulator's terms push forward digitalisation.

Trai has also told broadcasters that they would have to offer to DTH similar number of bouquets that they were giving to cable operators in non-Cas areas.

"We can't be offering single bouquets for DTH. We will also have to soon bring down our rates for DTH," says the head of a broadcasting company.

The sector regulator held a series of separate meetings with individual broadcasters over the last few days to assess the problems and express its firm stance.

Trai had ordered that to help DTH take off and give it a level playing field, broadcasters would have to reduce tariffs to at least 50 per cent of the non-Cas rates.

Broadcasters had submitted to Trai a pricing of their channels which was higher than the cap suggested by the regulator. They had also offered single bouquets for DTH, contrary to what Trai had stated.